Transnational Child Exploitation FAQs

ECPAT UK needs your help!

Our supporters make a real difference to trafficked young people by raising both money and awareness to protect children from exploitation. Without the generous support of our donors, none of our vital work could continue.

Remember, if you’re a UK taxpayer, you can increase your donation with Gift Aid. This enables us to claim back the tax you pay on your donation, increasing its value to us by 25%, at no extra cost to you. Please don’t forget to tick the Gift Aid declaration when making your donation. For more information, email [email protected].

Child sexual exploitation is a crime with devastating and long lasting consequences for its victims and their families. Childhoods are lost and family life can be ruined, and this is compounded when victims, or those at risk of abuse, do not receive appropriate, immediate and ongoing support.

ECPAT UK is supporting the rights of children everywhere to be protected against sexual exploitation by UK nationals travelling, working or living abroad. We are doing this in a number of ways:

We monitor and track cases of child sexual exploitation committed by UK nationals abroad to build a knowledge base that illustrates the scale and severity of children exploited outside the UK and the systemic failure to protect children from UK sex offenders.

We campaign for stronger national and international legislative frameworks, and international cooperation in law enforcement, to bring offenders to justice.

We campaign for enhanced child protection systems, both in the UK and internationally, to keep the world’s most vulnerable children safe from sex offenders and ensure child victims are adequately supported.

We are the UK representative of The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, providing training and advice to travel and tourism companies on identifying and protecting children at risk of abuse and exploitation.

We raise awareness of the issue and provide our expertise to government and civil society partners for changes needed in policy and practices to protect children in the UK and abroad.

Lanzarote Convention

On 21st June 2018 the UK government’s ratified of the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in the UK and abroad. The Lanzarote Convention is the first instrument to establish various forms of sexual abuse of children as criminal offences, including acts that are committed abroad. It was signed by the UK government in 2008, and ratified ten years later. The convention requires states to prevent and combat sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children; protect the rights of child victims of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and to promote national and international co-operation against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children. This includes implementing legislative measures to protect the rights of children without discrimination on any grounds of sex, race, gender, language, religion, national or social origin.

The ratification will allow for greater international cooperation and information‐sharing across borders to investigate and prosecute offenders' sexual crimes against children in the UK and abroad. In addition, the UK will be required to implement preventative measures such as screening, child protection training and the collection of data on convicted offenders.

Extraterritorial legislation in the UK

Extraterritorial legislation allows the UK to prosecute sex offenders who are British Nationals even when the offence is not committed on home territory. It also enables UK law enforcement to charge perpetrators who return to the UK when there has been no arrest by other jurisdictions abroad.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is the primary legislative instrument that deals with all types of sexual offences in the UK. Within this Act there are specific provisions for those committing sex crimes against children whilst abroad. The Act applies to England and Wales only; Scotland is covered by the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

Extraterritorial legislation is embodied in Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This section states that any UK national or resident who commits sexual acts prohibited by UK law whilst abroad, is guilty of that offence in the UK. In Scotland, this provision is covered by Section 55 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

Dual criminality

Section 72 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 amended Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 removed the aspect of ‘dual criminality’ for sexual offences. This means that UK nationals who commit sexual offences against children abroad are criminally liable for the offence, regardless of whether the exploitation is classed as a criminal offence overseas. In other words, there is no requirement for the crime to be an offence in both countries. The Act extended extraterritorial jurisdiction for the offence of grooming of children for sexual exploitation.

Civil orders

In March 2015, the UK government introduced two new civil orders in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPO) and Sexual Risk Orders (SRO). They are intended to protect members of the public in the UK, children and vulnerable adults from sexual harm including the offences of grooming by sex offenders outside of the UK. They replace three previous civil orders in Sexual Offences Act 2003.- risk of sexual harm order (ROSHO), sexual offences prevention order (SOPO)and the foreign travel order(FTO)

The Orders, issued by courts, would place restrictions on the movements and activities of anyone convicted or cautioned of a sexual or violent offence including individuals who have committed offences overseas or who pose a risk of sexual harm to children and vulnerable adults in the UK and abroad. Restrictions can include limiting their internet use, preventing them from being alone with a child under 16, home-tutoring children, or preventing travel abroad

Sexual Risk Order (SRO)

This civil order enables the court to impose prohibitions on individuals if there is reasonable cause to believe that the individual poses a risk of harm to others, even if they have never been convicted or cautioned for a sexual or violent offence under Schedule 3 or Schedule 5. The SRO has a minimum duration of two years and a maximum duration of five years.

Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO)

A civil order that enables a court to impose prohibitions on an individual who has been convicted or cautioned of a sexual or violent offence under Schedule 3 or Schedule 5, including when the offence is committed overseas. In order for the court to issue an SHPO it must be proved that since the appropriate date the offender has behaved in a way that threatens sexual harm to the public or a member of the public. The SHPO lasts for a minimum of five years with no maximum period, although it is not necessary to set a duration in the order and if no duration is set, the order will exist until it is successfully appealed.

Other UK tools to protect children outside of the UK

The International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC)

The ICPC is a criminal records check for UK nationals, or non-UK nationals who have previously lived in the UK, working or seeking work with children overseas. Many international schools and organisations around the world employ people from the UK as workers and volunteers. The ICPC exists to help protect children from offenders who travel overseas to exploit vulnerable children through employment and volunteering.

The ICPC checks individuals’ criminal records against police and intelligence databases in the UK. The ICPC is similar to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check that is required for anyone working professionally with children in England and Wales.

Each organisation will have their own policy on criminal records checks for staff, and will be guided by the statutory requirements and/or government recommendations in the country in which they are operating.

The certificates are issued on application by the individuals who are planning to work overseas. This is likely to take place only when institutions abroad require the ICPC certificate as contingency for employment.

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The Secret Gardeners aims to inform professionals about the plight of children who are forced by organised crime gangs to grow drugs in houses across the UK but who often face criminalisation and prison.

The National Referral Mechanism is a process set up by the Government to identify and support victims of trafficking in the UK. It was born out of the Government's obligation to identify victims under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, which came into force on 1 February 2008.

In 2018 we worked with Care2 to call on the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, to overhaul the current system of identification and support for victims of trafficking – the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).

This year, an incredible 120,535 supporters called for specialist support for all trafficked children. However, the fight is not finished and with the Modern Slavery Act currently under review, it’s now or never to make sure your voice is heard. Will you take 5 minutes to contact your MP asking them to raise this issue with the Home Secretary?

The UK Government is failing to protect thousands of children from exploitation by lacking a plan to prevent child trafficking, according to a new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of twelve UK-based charities, including ECPAT UK. The report Before the Harm is Done, stresses that the UK has no specific strategy in relation to preventing trafficking in children, putting thousands of children at risk.

ECPAT UK offers a comprehensive training programme, in line with National Occupational Standards, delivering courses for more than 20 years to help improve responses to child trafficking, modern slavery and exploitation.

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Report immediate concerns about a child's welfare

If you have an immediate concern about a child's welfare, please contact your local council's social care department, who are available 24 hours a day. You can find their contact details on the Directgov website or in the phone book.

You can also contact the Modern Slavery Helpline on 0800 0121 700 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

If your concern is urgent, please call the police in your area or 999.